Comments for Two Mistakes on the Human in Nature at http://www.thecatholicthing.org , comment 1 to 6 out of 6 comments http://www.thecatholicthing.org Tue, 21 May 2013 16:31:04 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2009/two-mistakes-on-the-human-in-nature.html#comment-2598 Thanks for another good article. By way of clarification. The "laws" which govern marriage belong to the Church and not the state who\'s laws should reinforce the provenance of the Church. Pope Leo XIII in his great encyclical in 1880 "Arcanum" taught that laws being enacted by the state then were detrimental to marriage in that they undermined the Church in regulating marriage leading to moral problems. - Paul Wed, 19 Aug 2009 05:40:31 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2009/two-mistakes-on-the-human-in-nature.html#comment-2597 As usual, great thinking from Professor Arkes. I love the Aristotelian and Thomistic claim that human law perfects the natural law since it is natural to humans, but, alas, atheistic materialists and Darwinians won't concede a purpose to creation. Could you take Aristotle a step further, as Teilhard did en gros, and argue that legistlation is part of the natural fulfillment of the human person, a fulfillment that nature discovers, "gropingly" (a tatons in Teilhard's phrase), as its best way. - Ken Colston Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:59:37 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2009/two-mistakes-on-the-human-in-nature.html#comment-2595 Great article. The nature of man is social and he needs to perfect his relationships in law, especially the marital union. After all, Christ himself laid down and promulgated the law of indissoluble marriage. I have been greatly disappointed by certain scholars like Douglas Kmiec who have used the "pre-political" or "religious nature" of marriage to argue for its degradation in law. Thank you for remaining a voice of clarity on this very important issue for the future survival of our country - Gunnar Gundersen Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:32:11 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2009/two-mistakes-on-the-human-in-nature.html#comment-2592 For Ms. Gardner --Thanks for your note, but don't you see that we may back into the same mistake in this way: We somehow neglect the fact that part of God's creation is a nature of man that gives rise distinctly to law. We are the only ones who can make a promise, respect a law outside ourselves and make a real \"commitment." Law helps to complete that nature; it is an extension of that nature. And yes, law becomes necessary in completing the understanding of marriage. - Hadley Arkes Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:07:38 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2009/two-mistakes-on-the-human-in-nature.html#comment-2591 Would you not think that man who eats the same food as the animals and breaths the same air would conclude that he is part of this ecology? We try to save whales, plants and worry about global warming but proceed to destroy our own species by various methods. In some countries we are breeding at the rate of extinction. Ah! But don't you see man has become the Creator now, which removes him from this ecology. The hubris of the Garden repeats itself as man's reason is corrupted by the Evil One! - Willie Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:13:22 +0100 http://www.thecatholicthing.org/columns/2009/two-mistakes-on-the-human-in-nature.html#comment-2590 Thank you for this article, Prof. Arkes, which I found very interesting. I have one clarifying question. When you speak of marriage as being bound with laws, which are something unique to human beings, do you mean to suggest that until there are laws articulated and enforced by human persons marriage can have no reality? That is, God's law alone written into the nature of man is inadequate, and the polis establishes the reality of marriage? - Katherine Gardner Tue, 18 Aug 2009 08:45:01 +0100